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Post by Angelique St. Clare on Apr 2, 2009 12:42:17 GMT -5
Angelique looked like hell. After leaving Riley the night before, she'd had to contact Vincent to tell him the news. Then she spent a while preparing statements to give to the press, and then arranging a new auror meeting.
The sad thing was, she had planned on having an auror meeting for that day anyway. There was a new auror coming in from America, and Angelique had intended to introduce her to the rest of the department. Now it looked rather like she was Roland's replacement. Angelique was almost tempted to call her away, or just let her slip in unnoticed. But it was too late... she was going to have to introduce the woman in the same meeting where she had to announce Roland's untimely death.
As a result, she was feeling pretty awful when she arrived at the meeting room. It felt patronizing to have donuts or bagels or coffee at the meeting. Maybe in Roland's honor, a bottle of firewhiskey would have been more appropriate. But she had nothing except the extra-large cup of coffee she was drinking. It might have been her tenth, she wasn't sure.
Sitting down at the front of the room, Angelique buried her face in her hands and wondered how she was going to do this.
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Post by Ted Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 12:48:33 GMT -5
Ted and Andi had actually just gotten back in last night, and he was in a better mood than anyone had probably seen him in in a while. He saw the notice about the Auror meeting, and checked the time... he had a few minutes. He wanted to go see Arthur and share the news. Arthur was going to call him crazy, he was sure.
He had no idea the bad news that was already floating around the office. He hadn't looked at a paper or anything, his goal being to live in some sort of hideaway with Andi for as long as possible.
With a kiss, he left her for a few minutes and made his way to the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department to see Arthur.
Coming up to his friend's desk, he had a wide grin on his face, and waited for the inevitable "Where have you been?"
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Apr 2, 2009 12:53:10 GMT -5
He didn't have long to wait.
"Where have you been?" Arthur blurted out immediately upon seeing his friend.
Taking one look at Ted's joyous expression, and Arthur's jaw dropped. Ted was happy about something, but Arthur was going to have to bring him back down to earth. "Oh, Merlin... you haven't heard, then, have you?"
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Post by Ted Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 12:58:07 GMT -5
And Ted's smile vanished instantly. Why was Arthur so good at being a killjoy?
"Heard what?" He asked, wondering what had happened, and he laughed slightly. "I'm gone for a week and things fall apart, hm?"
Soon enough, he wouldn't be making jokes at all. But he couldn't imagine that anything that terrible had happened.
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Apr 2, 2009 13:09:56 GMT -5
Arthur sighed. "You'd better sit down, Ted," he said, nodding at the chair in front of his desk. "It's bad. You'll hear about it in the auror meeting, but I'd rather you heard it from me first. I mean, you were friendly with him..."
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Post by Ted Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 13:12:47 GMT -5
Ted was still perplexed. What the hell could have happened while he was gone? Merlin, maybe it was a good thing he refused to read the paper while they were gone. From the sound of things, their honeymoon may have ended early.
"Friendly with... with who, Arthur? What happened?"
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Apr 2, 2009 13:18:08 GMT -5
Where in the world had Ted been that he was so far out of the loop? Clearly he hadn't been reading the newspapers, Although, considering how the Prophet had skewered Ted over his breakup with Andi, Arthur supposed he couldn't blame Ted for not reading it. Still... how could he not know?
"Roland Ferrera," he said gravely. "He's dead."
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Post by Ted Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 13:25:14 GMT -5
Ted's jaw dropped. "What? Oh-" He swore. "How?" He asked, suddenly thinking that Arthur would have all the answers.
It was a blow to hear that Roland had died. He wouldn't exactly say he was friends with the bloke, but he was getting there, and Roland was well respected, well liked. His family... "Oh, Merlin."
Riley.
"Arthur, what happened?"
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Apr 2, 2009 13:33:46 GMT -5
Arthur rubbed his head. "The details are kind of fuzzy... but Riley witnessed it. They were fighting death eaters near an old ammunitions warehouse or something, and Roland fell back through a roof, and then the building exploded... they say he never had a chance. They found a body and everything... It happened on New Year's Eve, of all times."
He was still in shock, really. Roland was his next door neighbor, after all. He couldn't believe he wouldn't be seeing the auror in the hallway anymore, or hearing him argue with Riley. He hadn't seen Riley since the news broke, either...
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Post by Ted Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 13:36:38 GMT -5
"What were they doing at an old warehouse?"
He didn't expect an answer to that. New Years... so yesterday? At least it hadn't been a whole week that he hadn't known.
"And Riley saw it," he repeated. "Is she okay? I mean, is she hurt?" He couldn't imagine she would be emotionally okay for a while yet. "I should go tell Andi before she hears it from someone else."
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Apr 2, 2009 13:52:07 GMT -5
Arthur shrugged. "I don't know. I really only know what was in the paper," he said. He pulled out the Daily Prophet article and handed it to Ted.
"I think Riley's OK... physically. But I haven't seen her. I can't imagine what she's going through." Sighing, he shook his head. "I wonder if he got around to telling her how he felt about her before he died."
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Post by Ted Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 13:56:04 GMT -5
"I almost hope not," Ted said, taking the article and reading over it quickly. Like Arthur, he couldn't imagine what Riley was going through. "I don't know if that would make this better or worse on her. And his poor family..."
He sighed, quiet for a minute as he finished the article.
"I should go. The meeting's soon, and I should tell Andi. I'll catch up with you later?"
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Apr 2, 2009 14:00:24 GMT -5
Arthur nodded. "Yeah, you should go. I'll talk to you later... I'm sorry to have to bring you down like that. I just thought you should know before the meeting."
He took the paper back from Ted and glanced at it sadly before shoving it back into his desk drawer. There was just a little too much death going around these days. And this was probably only the beginning. It was a sobering thought.
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Post by Ted Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 14:06:53 GMT -5
Ted stood up, nodding and starting to leave, but he paused a few feet from Arthur's desk.
"Oh, Arthur... remind me I have news for you when we talk later. I'll try and catch you around lunch."
He quickly made his way back to the Auror Department, nearly crashing into Riley on his way to his desk.
He apologized and tried to get a good look at her, but she wouldn't really look back at him, and she was gone.
He sighed.
"Andi... listen... something bad happened," he said when he got to her desk.
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Post by Riley Neves on Apr 2, 2009 14:11:02 GMT -5
Riley made it to the Ministry Meeting Room relatively unscathed. Either no one knew yet, or they were all afraid to approach her. Either way was fine with her.
She slipped into the meeting, glad to see that she was the first one there. she took a seat in the corner. Hopefully, this way, she could avoid everyone telling her how sorry they were.
"Angelique," she said, just to let the woman know she was there. Rily looked like hell. She looked like she hadn't slept since it happened... which, she hadn't. The only thing she'd eaten in the last couple of days were a few pieces of toast and a lot of coffee. She felt it was a triumph just getting out of bed everyday. But she had to be here. She couldn't sit at home and mourn.
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 14:22:02 GMT -5
Andi looked up to see Ted walking into the room and she reached for his hand. "I know... I can tell," she said. "The office seems... oppressively quiet. No one's talking. It's weird."
She nodded to the seat in front of her desk. "Sit down and tell me what happened," she said worriedly.
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Post by Ted Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 14:29:30 GMT -5
Ted shook his head, pressing a kiss to her hand before he sat down, not letting go of her.
"Arthur told me just now, and it's in the paper. Roland... Roland died sometimes yesterday." Before she could ask, he continued. "I don't know all the details, apparently, Riley's the only one that really does, because she was the only one there. They were fighting Death Eaters, and he was caught in some kind of explosion. He didn't make it."
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 14:44:09 GMT -5
Andi gasped, and covered her mouth with her free hand. "Oh, Merlin... that's awful!"
She didn't know Roland very well, and in fact, she'd always found him to be a little bit intimidating. But like everyone else, she'd heard of the fireworks between Roland and Riley and had been making tentative attempts to get Riley to talk about it with her. Now, whatever had been between them would never come to be. It was all so terribly sad.
"Poor Riley... and his poor family... It's no wonder why I haven't seen a single Ferrera today..."
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Post by Ted Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 14:47:56 GMT -5
"I imagine they've all been given some time off. Riley's here though."
He wondered if she shouldn't be. Even if there was nothing between her and Roland, she had still apparently watched her partner die. How was she supposed to handle that and be expected to be here today?
"It's very sad... I wish I could do something."
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Post by Andromeda Tonks on Apr 2, 2009 15:02:40 GMT -5
"Me, too. I talked to Riley at Emily's baby shower... she's really nice... I want to talk to her, but she probably won't want anything to do with anyone. I can't believe she's here. Would Angelique be that insensitive as to expect her to be here? Or does she just feel like she needs to be here?"
Andi really felt horrible. She and Ted had been off getting married and having a wonderful time, and Riley was losing her partner... the Ferreras were losing a son, brother, nephew, cousin... it was really very tragic.
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